Project Gutenberg's Mayflower (Flor de mayo), by Vicente Blasco Ibanez

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Title: Mayflower (Flor de mayo)

Author: Vicente Blasco Ibanez

Translator: Arthur Livingston

Release Date: August 2, 2009 [EBook #29577]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAYFLOWER (FLOR DE MAYO) ***

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THE MAYFLOWER

(_FLOR DE MAYO_)

_A TALE OF THE VALENCIAN SEASHORE_

BY

VICENTE BLASCO IBANEZ

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH

BY

ARTHUR LIVINGSTON

NEW YORK

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

681 FIFTH AVENUE

COPYRIGHT 1921

BY E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

_All Rights Reserved_

_First printing March, 1921_

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

I. THE WIDOW'S TAVERN

II. "SINA" TONA'S FAMILY

III. A FAMILY ENTERPRISE

IV. MARY AND JESUS MEET

V. TWO WOMEN QUARREL

VI. THE SMUGGLERS

VII. THE NAMING OF THE BOAT

VIII. THE "MAYFLOWER" PUTS TO SEA

IX. "PROOFS! PROOFS! ROSARIO!"

X. "AND STILL THEY SAY FISH COMBS HIGH!"

THE MAYFLOWER

CHAPTER I

THE WIDOW'S TAVERN

The morning of that day--it was a Tuesday of the Lenten season--could
not have dawned more promisingly. The sea, off the Cabanal, was in flat
calm, as smooth as a polished mirror. Not the slightest ripple broke the
shimmering triangular wake that the sun sent shoreward over the lifeless
surface of the water.

The fishing fleet had headed, bright and early, for the grounds off the
Cabo de San Antonio; and all the seines were out to take full advantage
of the perfect weather. Prices on the market of Valencia were running
high; and every skipper was trying to make a quick catch and get back
first to the beach of the Cabanal, where the fisherwomen were waiting
impatiently.

Toward noon the weather changed. An easterly wind came up, the dread
_levante_, that can blow so wickedly in the gulf of Valencia. The sea at
first was lightly wrinkled; but as the hurrica